Hi Luis,

(1) If by planning you mean a funded effort, you might be right. But I was talking about well known opinions of space scientists. Of course there were dissenting opinions among them as well. But the advantages of having a space station available for even the first ventures beyond Earth's gravitational influence seem obvious. The problems of dealing with gravity and the atmosphere require solutions that impede any solutions to the problem of getting from a space station to any other objective. Plus, the opportunity to reconfigure, refuel, restaff, and accumulate payload at a space station will be invaluable for any serious venture into space. The only advantage to making a moonshot first is the opportunity for bragging rights.

(2) Since the fable has to be forced to fit either way, and since there is no importance to anything either way, I will concede this one.

(3) I didn't claim that a space station was ever regarded as a "first step"; only that it was regarded as a step that should be made prior to a moon shot.

>>>Indeed, a thorough review will show that all agencies involved saw the moon as the "big cheese" (rim shot).

• Fair enough - luis_hamburgh - November 23, 2001 - 21:40 UTC
  • Truce. (nt) - pmartin - November 23, 2001 - 23:10 UTC